Biography

 
  Gene Kelly was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 23 in 1912. His mother encouraged him and his siblings to take dance lessons at an early age, but, being a young boy, he was never too enthusiasic about it. Gene's main goal in life at that age was to play baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and not to dance. In fact, he begged his mother to let him quit. . . .Gene and his brothers had to fight their way home from their lessons and were constantly ridiculed by other boys of  their age . Well, by the time he was in his teens he was glad he didn't quit. The girls loved him! He was one of the only boys who could dance! 
  When the depression hit hard, Gene took on many jobs to help support his family, including some Vaudeville dancing. Though his mother encouraged the arts, her goal for Gene was to be a lawyer. Believe it or not, but in his mother's opinion, Gene's brother Fred was the more likely to succeed in entertainment. Well, Gene grew to love dance so much he wanted to go into it professionally. This worried his mother, but Gene went through with it anyway. She never thought he would amount to anything, but I think we all know who made the right decision in the long run. . . .
  Gene went to New York and in a short time, he became a huge success. "Pal Joey" was what brought him to the attention of David O. Selznick. Gene trekked his way out to Hollywood, with his new wife Betsey Blair, and soon his friend Stanley Donen, who would later work with Gene quite frequently in film. Gene signed a contract with Selnick ,but, unfortunately, Selznick didn't have any good parts for Gene. Also, Selznick encouraged Gene to focus more on dramatic acting, and pretty much forget dancing. Gene wasn't too happy about this, and was thrilled when he got an offer from MGM to star in "For Me and My Gal" with Judy Garland. Since Gene wasn't doing anything at that time anyway, Selznick agreed to lend him out. It was one of the best things to ever happened to Gene, and his reviews were good. Gene was in the Hollywood spotlight. . . .and it would be a long time the light would go out. Gene was on the way to becoming one of the biggest stars of all time. 
  He made a few low budget films with MGM after "For Me and My Gal", but it wasn't until after he made "Cover Girl" for Columbia that MGM decided to buy Gene Kelly's contract from Selznick. "Cover Girl" was a huge success. MGM refused to lend Gene to other studios anymore because he was too much of a money-maker. Though flattering at the time, this proved to be somewhat disasterous in the future. 
  Gene was doing well at MGM, but when Pearl Harbor was bombed Gene pleaded with the studio to let him take a leave of absence and go to fight for his country. After a while, they agreed. Gene left for the Navy in 1944. He didn't get back until 1946, and he was quite  worried that the public had forgotten him. He also worried that his best dancing years were over, already being 34 years old. What Gene didn't know was that the best was yet to come. 
  Gene made movies such as "Living in a Big Way", "The Pirate", and "The Three Musketeers", but when Gene made "On the Town", he reached a kind of fame he had never gotten before. It was his directorial debut and it was a smash hit! It was the first musical to be shot on location too, which was all the better. The studio now looked at him as a very valuable asset, and gave him more freedom then ever before. Because of this new-found freedom, Gene went on to make two of the best musicals ever made. . . . . 

  "An American in Paris" was the film that pushed Gene to a different level. The SUPERSTAR level. The movie was one of the highest grossing of the year. It won six Academy Awards, icluding one for "Best Picture". Gene also got an honorary award for "his versatality as an actor, singer, dancer, director, and choreographer, and specifically for his brilliant acheivements in choreography on film".Gene was on a new high. Could things get any better? Well, once again, Gene proves himself. 
  The following year, Gene made movie history with the one and only "Singin' in the Rain". Though today it is considered one of the greatest films ever made, at the time it was a bit overshadowed by his previous year's success. That doesn't mean SITR went unnoticed. It's considered a masterpiece and won critical acclaim at the time. 
  After Gene's great wave of success, his career died down and began to fade. His personal and professional life was in some turmoil. His 15 year marriage with Betsey Blair ended, along with his even longer working relationship with friend Stanley Donen. Gene faded from the spotlight but he was never forgotten. In 1960 he remarried to Stanley Donen's ex-wife, Jeanne Coyne. They had two children together and led a very happy life together. Unfortunately, when Gene was beginning to get many directorial and acting offers, his wife was diagnosed with cancer, and died soon after. Because Gene was left a widower with two young children, he took a break from show biz, only accepting offers that didn't tke him away from home for too long. He made guest appearences on T.V., appeared in the "That's Entertainment" movies, and occasionally took a directorial job. 
  In 1980, Gene made his last appearence in a musical. Unfortunately, Gene didn't go out with as big of a bang as he came in with, because Xanadu, to put it frankly. . . .sucked. The only good parts in it were Gene's, so, therefor, nobody blamed Gene for its failure. 
  Into the 80's, Gene appeared in a few mini-series, but his film career was pretty much over. In 1985, he recieved a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute, and over the years recieved even more for life time achievement. In 1994, Gene made his last on-screen appearence, hosting "That's Entertainment III". His last words on the big screen were, "The song has ended, but the melody lingers on". That's the way we all felt when Gene died, February 2, 1996. 

 
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*This is not an official biography. It was written a year ago by the owner of this site, and to my knowledge is totally accurate. If there are any questions/comments/corrections/ or suggestions please feel free to e-mail me.